Teachers seek action against principal

Representatives of a large group of secondary school teachers in Kandal province who complained about the allegedly corrupt behaviour of their boss spoke out about the failure of authorities to act on their concerns yesterday.

Lach Veth, deputy director of Koki secondary school in Kandal’s Kien Svay district, said little has been done about a complaint against principal Yem Rany that he and 19 other teachers filed with the Ministry of Education and the Anti-Corruption Unit three months ago.

“Ministry officials have just liaised between the head of the school and the teachers,” he said. “But the principal is still behaving in a corrupt way. On Saturday last week, they went to question the teachers who filed the complaint, but we did not know if they are going to take action against the school director.”

Vet said the teachers’ allegations included that Rany had inflated the number of classes in order to claim more money from the Ministry of Education that he kept for himself, and that he failed to distribute donated books and pens.

Staff also claimed that the principal had pocketed money made from hiring out the school building, and that he had stolen money from the school’s program budget.

Another teacher, Ai Chhim, said the staff who filed the complaint were not looking to have the school director fired, but simply wanted a just outcome.

“If the Ministry of Education finds his fault, he has to be punished according to the ministry law, and also if the ACU finds his fault, action should be taken through ACU law,” he said.

Neither Rany nor the Ministry of Education could be reached for comment yesterday.